Flexible waterproof gloves are important tools for the medical profession. Traditionally these gloves were formed from natural rubber latex by dipping hand shaped forms into the latex, curing the latex into a continuous film and them removing the glove from the form. Since gloves formed from natural rubber are inherently self-adherent, it was necessary to apply powder release agents on the forms prior to dipping so that the formed glove would not adhere to the forms.
Natural rubber latex is expensive and may present allergy potential. With the development of synthetic polymers it has become possible to produce flexible film gloves from materials other than natural rubber latex. Polyurethanes and acrylates can be formed into latices similar to natural rubber and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) can be prepared as a plastisol so that film gloves with substantially similar properties to natural rubber latex gloves may be prepared. Representative of these vinyl gloves are Tru-Touch.RTM. sold by Becton Dickinson, Franklin Lakes, N.J.
Gloves prepared from PVC plastisol are also self-adherent and powdered release agents similar to those used in latex gloves are used for these PVC gloves.
With the advent of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), film gloves are being worn more often and more frequently by laboratory workers and physicians. Many workers who previously wore gloves only occasionally are now required to wear gloves almost continually. This increased usage has resulted in much greater exposure of the user populations to the gloves and instances of allergic sensitivity to some of the materials used in forming gloves and to the release powders used in gloves have been reported. Additionally, for some applications, the presence of release powder on a glove may interfere with the procedure which the user is conducting while wearing the glove. There are several reports related to elimination of release powders on natural rubber glove such as utilizing chemical treatments such as halogenation of the natural rubber surface and bonding lubricious agents to the surface of the glove.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,088,125 to Ansell et al. teaches an elastomeric glove wherein good donning characteristics are obtained without the need for donning agents such as talc and without the need to produce an inner laminate by polymerization methods. The patent further teaches that a glove may be formulated from a first flexible elastomeric material having a hand contacting surface of the glove coated with a second elastomeric material comprising a blend of an ionic polyurethane and a dispersed second polymer having a particle size greater than that of the ionic polyurethane. Only organic polymeric materials having a particle size greater than the polyurethane are suggested for the dispersed particulate materials.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,143,109 to Stockum teaches a method of making a medical glove adapted to tightly uniform to a wearer's skin and to be donned without the use of additional lubricants. The patent teaches medical glove having an outer layer of elastomeric material. A separate inner layer of elastomeric material bonded to the outer layer and particulate matter securely embedded in and randomly distributed throughout the inner layer. The particulate matter is preferably partially exposed on the inner skin contacting layer so that it extends beyond the inner surface to form protrusion on the inner surface in a size and shape and in a quantity distribution similar to a powdered glove. The patent teaches the use of polyethylene microbeads as well as other polymers, both naturally occurring and man made. Cornstarch and cross-linked corn starch are taught as particularly suitable materials and as having desirable lubricity properties.
While the teachings of the above referenced patents provide one skilled in the art of making gloves with several ways of providing gloves which are donnable without the need for release powders, there is still a need for a vinyl glove with which is donnable without powder which does not depend solely on lubricious properties of a partially exposed embedded material and which can be produced efficiently.